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American Sign Language (ASL), like any other language, allows you to communicate your feelings. You can sign about how that movie made you sad or how seeing your Deaf friend made you happy: Angry: Make the open-5 hand shape, palm toward your face, and pull your hand away from your face, scrunching up your fingers.

Practice signing these basic expressions in American Sign Language (ASL) to meet and greet people, join in on conversations, answer questions, and be polite and courteous.

Signing one-word questions in American Sign Language (ASL) is a way to initiate small talk, get to know people, and gather information. When you sign these one-word questions, look inquisitive; the facial expression will come naturally when you are genuinely interested. Also, tilt your head and lean forward a little as you sign the question.

In American Sign Language (ASL), knowing how to sign the cardinal (counting) numbers helps you in everyday situations like banking and making appointments. Pay attention to the way your palm faces when you sign numbers. For 1 through 5, your palm should face yourself. For 6 though 9, your palm should face out toward the person who’s reading the sign.

As you become more confident in your ability to communicate through American Sign Language (ASL) and begin to meet Deaf acquaintances and form friendships, keep some simple etiquette do’s and don’ts in mind.Do’s To get a Deaf person’s attention, tap him or her on the shoulder or flick the light switch. Let a Deaf person know that you can hear and that you’re learning Sign.

Learning the manual alphabet in American Sign Language (ASL) will help you when you don’t know a sign as you begin communicating. If you don’t know the sign for something, you need to use the manual alphabet to spell the word, or fingerspell. Check out and practice the manual alphabet:Note: If you need to fingerspell a word that has two letters that are the same, make a small bounce between the letters or simply slide the repeated letter over slightly.

When you want to ask a question in American Sign Language (ASL), you simply sign the question word at the end of the sentence — words such as who, what, when, where, which, why, and how. After you sign your question, as a rule, you sign the manual question mark repeatedly. You also have the option of placing the question mark at the beginning of the sentence.

Whether you're signing about doing laundry or buying new clothes, you may need to know how to identify items of clothing in American Sign Language (ASL). These signs show you how to refer to clothing in any season. Signs for underwear It’s time to go under cover. Most of these signs are signed to look like what they represent.

If you want to share information about your family by using American Sign Language (ASL), you need to know a few signs. Describing your family is one way to tell someone about yourself. Using the common signs in this table can make your eccentric family seem almost normal. Signs for some other members of your family, such as grandparents and in-laws, are a bit trickier: Grand-relatives: To talk about your grandparents or your grandchildren, fingerspell G-R-A-N-D, and then sign the person's role.